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The best places to eat near Downtown

Matchbox Chinatown

M-Th 11AM-10:30PM, F 11AM-11:30PM, Sa 10AM-11:30PM, Su 10AM-10:30PM; closing times listed indicate time of last seating. $10-30. Matchbox looks like a tourist trap. It's in the right neighborhood, has gimmicky (if really cool) decor with an insane variety and quantity of matchboxes decorating the tables, and is enormous but still packed with people all times of the day. But some of the food here is actually really good: charcoaled sliders and wood-fired NYC-style pizza. (The rest of the menu, however, would befit a bonafide tourist trap.) It's also a good place to go for a drink, especially when the weather is warm and they open up their outdoor seating.

Poste

Breakfast: M-F 7AM-10AM; brunch: Sa-Su 8AM-3PM; lunch: M-F 11:30AM-3:30PM; dinner: M-Th 5PM-10PM, F-Sa 5PM-10:30PM, Su 5PM-9PM. $30-70. The standard menu, while top-notch contemporary American, may not leave a truly lasting impression as would some of the more unique restaurants in this area, but the setting is gorgeous. Set in the historic 1842 neo-classical General Post Office building, modeled after the Roman Temple of Jupiter, Poste has arguably the flashiest and prettiest dining room in the city. The courtyard occupying the center of the block is a favorite Washingtonian spot in the summer for outdoor dining and drinks—craft beers and truffle fries are a happy hour staple of the trendier crowd downtown. There are a couple memorable special-occasion items on (or off) the menu, though: if you have a big group, you can get one of the government-named seafood towers, or even make special reservations for a "Poste Roast," involving private dining and a whole roasted lamb, pig, or goat.

Jaleo

Su-M 11:30AM-10PM, Tu-Th 11:30AM-11PM, F-Sa 11:30AM-midnight; brunch Sa-Su until 3PM. $20-40. Many credit this loud, happy restaurant in the Penn Quarter for the current boom in Spanish tapas bars. Serves tasty tapas and wonderful sangria, as well as a fantastic selection of ports and sherry. This is Jose Andrés' first restaurant, and one of the best options in the area. Expect to wait on a crowded F-Sa night.

Fogo de Chao

Lunch: M-F 11:30AM-2:30PM; dinner: M-Th 5PM-10PM, F 5PM-10:30PM, Sa 4:30PM-10:30PM, Su 4PM-9:30PM. Lunch: $32.50; dinner:49.50. This national (not international) chain has spread to most major U.S. cities, and is a big downtown hit everywhere it is. Brazilian cuisine can actually be a bit of a let down, with one exception—meat. This is basically an all-you-can-eat meat experience, and the meats are good (there are sides too, of course). Flip your green card up, and the chefs come with meat; flip it to red, and the chefs let you eat. Recognizing a certain weakness in the model, the restaurant also has a really nice salad bar, for a considerably lower price than the meat menu.

Plume

The new entrant at the Jefferson Hotel is already a clear destination restaurant, with classic French cuisine served in a traditional American, and frankly gorgeous, interior. The food is competitive with the best the city has to offer, and the service is perhaps a step above, with details covered down to the string-bound parchment you receive on your way out, upon which your servers have listed the wines you sampled.

The Hay-Adams Hotel

Su-Th 11:30AM-midnight, F-Sa 11:30AM-12:30AM. Recognized by Forbes.com as one of the world’s best hotel bars, Off the Record is known as Washington’s premiere "power bar" (right across the park from the White House), and a place to be seen and not heard.

Proof Restaurant

Lunch: Tu-F 11:30AM-2PM; dinner: M-Th 5:30PM-10PM, F-Sa 5:30PM-11PM, Su 5PM-9:30PM. $35-60. The coziest fine dining establishment downtown, Proof is a choice date spot, with a "wine-centric" ethos—hosts want nothing better than to help you discover better and better wines, so be sure to ask recommendations for pairings (and cheeses—the charcuterie platters here are the best in town). Doubling as a dedicated wine bar, Wine comes by the taste, glass, or bottle. The cocktails are also pretty fabulous. Food is contemporary American, with a vague Mediterranean bent. Lunch deals are excellent, including wine, if you don't mind an early start to your drinking!

Lincoln Restaurant

The assassination of United States President Abraham Lincoln took place on Good Friday, April 14, 1865, as the American Civil War was drawing to a close. The assassination occurred five days after the commander of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, General Robert E. Lee, surrendered to Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant and the Union Army of the Potomac. Lincoln was the first American president to be assassinated, though an unsuccessful attempt had been made on Andrew Jackson thirty years before in 1835. The assassination was planned and carried out by the well-known stage actor John Wilkes Booth, as part of a larger conspiracy in a bid to revive the Confederate cause.

Graffiato

Su-Tu 11:30AM-11PM, W-Sa 11:30AM-midnight. $20-50, tasting menu: $55. Outside D.C., Mike Isabella is best known as a Top Chef "all star," but in D.C. he's known for some of the best Italian food in the city, served in small-plate portions, out of this small downtown restaurant with a long waitlist for reservations. The top chef's own favorite dish is the simple hand-cut spaghetti, adorned only with garlic, cherry tomatoes, and thai basil.

Clyde's

M-Th 11AM-2AM, F 11AM-3AM, Sa 10AM-3AM, Su 10AM-2AM. $15-35. Clyde's is as solid and safe an option as any downtown, and it's right dead center at Gallery Place. The cavernous multilevel building,attractive, wooden and dimly lit in a sort of Victorian grand-old-hotel fashion, provides a lot of comfy seating. The food here is virtually identical to the "traditional Washingtonian" that you would find at the famous Old Ebbitt Grill, although perhaps a little better prepared, and no reservations required. It's a great after-dinner or after-theater option, to sit at one of its three lovely bars and have a few drinks. Or finagle a table and have those drinks with a little dessert, or something off the fantastic oyster menu.

Passenger

M-Th 5PM-1:30AM, F-Sa 5PM-2:30AM, Su 2PM-midnight. This is a crowded bar specializing in craft-cocktails, and attempting for the look of a dive. It's a little busy for someone looking to actually discuss their drink with their servers, but judged by any other criteria, it's just a really good bar, with really good mixed drinks. If you make reservations far in advance, you can get a seat in the hidden Columbia Room in the back, where you will be treated to a private and customized tasting of craft cocktails and appetizers in one of D.C.'s classiest high concept bars, with likely the best mixed drinks you've had.

Zaytinya

Su-M 11:30AM-10PM, Tu-Th 11:30AM-11PM, F-Sa 11:30AM-midnight. $20-45. Tapas, antojitos, and... mezzes! Andrés' alphabetically last restaurant serves a variety of meat, seafood, and vegetarian Greek and Lebanese mezzes, along with large selection of wines from the same region.

Minibar

Seating times Tu-Sa 6PM and 8:30PM, Su 5PM and 7:30PM. $150. Mr. Andrés' wild culinary ride through molecular-gastronomy. Reservations are hard to come by at this six-customer, two-chef restaurant, which will serve you a 30-course meal of everything from cotton candy foie gras to lobster injection to beet tumbleweed. Even by its own extreme standards, the Dragon Popcorn caused a local stir last year—caramelized curry popcorn dipped into liquid nitrogen, which causes smoke to come out your nose after eating. Reservations open up one month in advance, and you should call at 10AM if you want to get one (and watch out for the rude reservations lady).